An Evening with Kae Tempest

Join critically acclaimed musician, poet, playwright, and author, Kae Tempest, for an evening of spoken word performance.

A lifelong Londoner, Kae began their career as a 16-year-old MC busking at bus stops, open mic nights, battles, raves, squat parties, and scrappy festivals.

After a stint in the band Sound of Rum, Kae self-published the poetry collection Everything Speaks In Its Own Way in 2012. That same year, their debut play Wasted opened in London and toured the UK. Meanwhile, their long poem Brand New Ancients, won the Ted Hughes prize and transferred to New York in 2013. 

Their first solo recording, the Mercury-Prize-nominated Everybody Down, came in 2014 as well as the release of Hold Your Own, which named them a Next Generation Poet by the Poetry Book Society; a once in a decade accolade. Kae’s debut novel, The Bricks That Built The Houses (2016) made the Sunday Times Bestseller list. Their first non-fiction book, On Connection, was released to critical acclaim in 2020. To date, they are the only artist who has opened a play at the National Theatre one summer and played Glastonbury Festival the next.

Presented as part of the Ralph Fiennes / Theatre Royal Bath Season